What Kind of God Do We Have?

13th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/27/23 Exodus 34:5-9 What Kind of God Do We Have? I. One who is gracious and merciful II. One who is holy and just. We’re all aware that novels, movies, and even history books frequently describe and portray events of marital unfaithfulness. Novels and movies are prone to glamorize the sordid details, but historical accounts are obligated to report these events as close to reality as possible, and the reality is, there’s always fallout, sometimes crushing fallout. And that reality slams home when you listen to a friend recounting their experience with an unfaithful spouse. The weight on your heart just about sucks the life out of you. Keep that reaction in mind, as I set the background for this morning’s sermon text from Exodus 34. In Exodus 25-31 the Lord spends a great deal of time setting before Moses his plans for the building of the Tabernacle, which was a tent-like structure that could be set up, taken down, and moved to a new location. He also described in detail all its appointments, such as the altar for burnt offerings. He set the length, width, and color of each section of the Tabernacle walls. He provided the details for the garments for the priests as well as the ingredients for the incense that would be burned. As you read those words, it’s almost too much information. And you might wonder why the Lord was so careful about how this Tabernacle would be built and used in worship. And the reason? Because this would be the special location of his presence on earth. His glory would reside in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle. He wanted to create this intimate connection with his people, the Children of Israel. And then comes Exodus 32, one of the worst incidents in the history of the nation of Israel. I’m sure you’re familiar with it. Moses came down the mountain with the 10 Commandments in his hands and what does he see and hear? He sees a golden calf. He sees God’s people dancing around it as a form of heathen worship. What’s more, the people—God’s people—were engaged in pagan revelry. Their worship of this calf was some sort of sordid drinking party. What a slap in the Lord’s holy face! What brazen unfaithfulness! Then comes Exodus 33 in which Lord informs Moses that he should lead the people to the Promised Land but the Lord would not go with them. His presence, which he had planned to be with his people in the Tabernacle in a special way, would now not be with them at all. But Moses realized that would be a huge mistake. More importantly, he wonders who the Lord is. “What are you all about, Lord? How are you going to respond to all this?” And so, he asks the Lord to show him his glory. In other words, “Show me who you are.” And at the end of Exodus 33, the Lord agrees to place Moses in a cleft of a rock and shield Moses so that Moses will see God’s glory after it had passed in front of him. And what follows is our text for this morning’s sermon. Martin Luther called this text “a sermon on the name of God.” It answers the question, “What kind of God do we have?” Let’s focus on these words and receive the answer to our question from the Lord himself. I. When someone in your life misbehaves or displays conduct that is detrimental to your relationship, you have some options, don’t you? You can ignore it, but that’s not going to help. If the offending party is your child, you have a parental responsibility to discipline the child. If the offending party is a co-worker or supervisor, you can quit your job and begin the search for employment elsewhere. You can gently call them out on it or even begin to berate them. You have options. Which one will you take? The Lord had a huge choice to make after the Children of Israel had so grievously offended him with their worship of the golden calf. How would he respond? What choices did he have? He makes it clear here in these chapters of Exodus, that he only has two: Destroy all the people completely or abandon them and let them try to get to the Promised Land on their own. As the leader of God’s people, Moses realized that neither of those choices were viable. And why not? Because the Lord had promised to send a Savior through these people, the descendants of Abraham. He had also promised to lead these people to the Promised Land. Destroying the people or abandoning them were not in keeping with his promises, and the Lord is always faithful to his promises. So, Moses asked to see a display of God’s glory. And that’s when he heard these words, which many orthodox Bible scholars consider to be the most important verses in the Old Testament. “He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.’” Notice first what the Lord does NOT say. He doesn’t say, “If you want me to go with you and to continue to be your God, it’s going to cost you. A lot. And you will always wonder if you had sacrificed enough for me to continue to be happy with you. You will always live under the burden that you owe me bigtime.” We hear not one word of that. God’s glory is not in making us pay him. Instead, his glory is in doing the unthinkable, what no human being would ever do freely and willingly. His glory is in being gracious and merciful. And he’s not doing so to get something in return. There’s nothing in it for him. It’s all for us. How divinely gracious! So, what kind of God do we have? First and foremost, above all, he wants us to know and trust in him as the God who is gracious and merciful. He forgives wickedness, rebellion, and sin. He’s all about saving sinners, not damning them. II. But there’s more. Has anyone ever taken advantage of you? Have you shown yourself to be kind and loving and faithful and reliable and conscientious, the kind of person you can count on always to do what’s best and right? And how did the people around you respond? Well, you hope they appreciate the way you are. But there’s another response, an ugly response. They take advantage of you. They don’t pull their weight because they know you’ll pull it for them. They know you’ll be there, so they don’t have to be. In reaction to the worst incident of Israel’s unfaithfulness, the Lord had just revealed himself to be gracious and forgiving. He didn’t make the Children of Israel pay for their sin. But he wanted to make sure that his people knew he was still serious—dead serious—about sin. He would not be taken advantage of. And so, he also spoke these words as a revelation of his glory, “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Unfortunately, this incident of rebellion against the Lord would not be Israel’s last. The truth is that they rebelled against him time and time again. And where there was no repentance, where they was no turning away from sin and receiving forgiveness and living in that forgiveness out of heartfelt thanks to the Lord, the boom of God’s wrath would come down. The Lord even speaks some words of judgment that bother us. It almost sounds as if he punishes the children for the sins of their parents. But he states elsewhere he doesn’t do that. So, what do his words mean here? He states that when parents commit sins in unbelief and remain in that unbelief, their sins bring hardship and heartache into the lives of their children, who often continue sinning in unbelief and make the situation worse. Unfortunately, we see that happening in our world all the time. The Lord’s glory is also in his threat of punishment. He is holy and just. Perfectly holy and just. What kind of God do we have? One who is holy and just. So, which one is it? What do I mean? Well, we stated earlier that our God is gracious and merciful. And now we just stated that he is holy and just. Those are opposites. Both can’t be true at the same time. So, which one is it? What kind of God do we have? He is gracious and merciful, and he is holy and just all at the same time. And we see it at the cross of Jesus. There at the cross the God who forgives and the God who punishes meet. They are one God who does both, perfectly. He punished every sin of every sinner when he punished his Son. And he forgives every sin of every sinner because Jesus satisfied the holiness and the justice of God. It’s the greatest truth ever revealed, and your God has revealed it to you! In fact, he has sent you his Holy Spirit to bring you to faith in the God who is gracious and merciful and also holy and just. And through that Holy Spirit’s work, God does what he dearly wants to do with every sinful human being—to bring his presence to you, to live with you, to live in you. You are God’s Tabernacle where your Lord lives in a special way. Think about that for a moment. Your God is not far away from you. He lives within you. That’s how much he loves you. Even though we deserve to be damned eternally from his presence, he makes his presence with us, and he does so through his word and his sacraments. In a few minutes, many of you will receive the blessing of Christ’s very body and blood with the bread and the wine of Holy Communion. Think about that! That’s what kind of God you have! Make him your greatest treasure! Do what Moses did when the Lord revealed his glory. He “bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.” Let your life be a daily act of worship of your God! Amen.